1 D o you indeed in silence speak righteousness, O you mighty ones? Do you judge fairly and uprightly, O you sons of men?

Do you speak what is right and good, O you powerful ones? Are you always right in how you judge, O sons of men?

2 N o, in your heart you devise wickedness; you deal out in the land the violence of your hands.

No, in your heart you do what is wrong. You use your hands to hurt and destroy in the land.

3 T he ungodly are perverse and estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

The sinful go wrong as soon as they are born. Those who speak lies go the wrong way from birth.

4 T heir poison is like the venom of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder or asp that stops its ear,

Their poison is like the poison of a snake. They are like a cobra that cannot or will not listen.

5 W hich listens not to the voice of charmers or of the enchanter never casting spells so cunningly.

It does not hear the voice of the man who has power over it, even if the man is very good in his work.

6 B reak their teeth, O God, in their mouths; break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.

O God, break the teeth in their mouth. Break out the teeth of the young lions, O Lord.

7 L et them melt away as water which runs on apace; when he aims his arrows, let them be as if they were headless or split apart.

Let them flow away like water that pours. When he uses his arrows, let them have no heads.

8 L et them be as a snail dissolving slime as it passes on or as a festering sore which wastes away, like a woman gives untimely birth that has not seen the sun.

Let them be like a snail that melts away as it goes. Like a baby born dead, may they never see the sun.

9 B efore your pots can feel the thorns, He will take them away as with a whirlwind, the green and the burning ones alike.

Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns, He will blow them away with a storm, both the green and the burning ones.

10 T he righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.

The one who is right and good will be full of joy when he sees the sinful punished. He will wash his feet in their blood.

11 M en will say, Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God Who judges on the earth.

And men will say, “For sure there is pay for those who are right and good. For sure there is a God Who says who is guilty or not on the earth.”